Reports of Committees. xxxix 



season of 1859, your committee is encouraged to believe that the 

 valuable results of the labors of these explorers, during the present 

 year, will greatly aid the Philosophical Institute in deciding as to the 

 best route to be adopted for further exploration, and will greatly fa- 

 cilitate the labors of future explorers. 



Your Committee has much pleasure in recording the valuable 

 offer of F. C. Christy, Esq., C.E., to furnish an exploring party with 

 any number of the best breed of carrier pigeons. Your Committee 

 believes that with suitable arrangements these pigeons might become 

 an invaluable aid in the exploration of the interior. 



When the proper time arrives, your Committee will be prepared, 

 with the sanction of the Institute, to take the necessary steps to 

 obtain a vote of the Legislature in furtherance of the important 

 object for which they were appointed ; and, your Committee has 

 every confidence that the applications, both to the Government and 

 to the Parliament, will be attended with success. 



Read and adopted at a meeting of the Exploration Committee 

 held in the Melbourne Mechanics' Institution, on the 26th May, 1858. 



D. E. WILKIE, M.D., Chairman. 



THIRD REPORT OF THE "EXPLORATION" COMMITTEE 

 OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE OF VICTORIA. 



Brawn up by Drs. Wilkie, Mueller, and Macadam; adopted by 

 the " Exploration " Committee ; and received at the Ordi- 

 nary Meeting of the Institute, held on tlie 2<dth September, 

 1858. 



Your Committee has the honor to report that a meeting was 

 held on the 3rd instant, to take into consideration the appoint- 

 ment of a Committee, at a public meeting held at the Mechanics' 

 Institution, on Tuesday, the 1st instant, on the subject of Australian 

 Exploration, and at which Sir William F. Stawell presided. It was 

 agreed that a deputation, consisting of Mr. R. H. Bland, Dr. Mac- 

 adam, and the Chairman, should seek an interview with Sir William 

 Stawell, and draw his attention to the existence of the Exploration 

 Committee of the Philosophical Institute, and to the present position 

 of the Institute in relation to Australian Exploration. 



The deputation was unfortunately unable to meet Sir W. Stawell 

 at the time appointed by him, but, at the subsequent meeting of the 

 Exploration Fund Committee, the following resolution was agreed to : 

 " That while this Committee considers it to be its first duty to raise 

 the sum of £2000 by subscription, in aid of the handsome donation 



